Improvement in machines for thinning or spacing crops



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Patented Feb. 9,1875.

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chine for Thinning or Spacing Crops.

Patenfedj1a75.

'UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

MARCUS EUSTAOE, OF HIGHFIELD, DBUMCONDRA,.AND JAMES KENNAN AND THOMAS KENNAN, OF DUBLIN, IRELAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR THINNING OR SPACING CROPS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,655, dated February 9, 1875; application led December 6, 1873.

D., of Highfield, Drumcondra, in the county of Dublin, Ireland, and JAMES KENNAN and THOMAS KENNAN, engineers, both of No. 19

Fishannble street, in the city of Dublin, Ireland, have invented Improvements in Machines for Thinning or Spacing Root and other Crops; and do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings hereinafter referred to, forms afull and exact specification of the same, wherein we have set forth the nature and principles of our said improvements, by which our invention may bedistinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as we claim and desire vto secure by Letters Patentthat is to say:

Our invention has reference to ilnprovements in the construction and arrangement-of the parts of a machine for thinning or spacing root and other crops, which machine is described in the specification to a patent for which the aforesaid Marcus Eustace is applying' under equal date herewith.

Our improvements will be `readily understood on referring to the accompanying drawings.

Figures 1, 2, and 3 show, respectively, a side View, a front view, and a plan of one arrangement ot our improved machine, and Fig. 6a shows a detached detail thereof. Figs.v5, 6, and 7 show, respectively, a side elevation, a plan, and a transverse section on line X X, Fig. 5, ol' an arrangement in which each hoeblade F is carried by an independent frame with guides. Fig. S shows a side View, and Fig. 9 a front View, in which two lateral cutting-disks are held on each side of the hoe.

Fig. 1() shows an arrangement of fixed cutting blades or colters M, secured to the bar A3 in front of the hoe F. The colters may be combined with the hoe, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and in the perspective view to an enlarged scale, Fig. 1l, presenting cuttin g-ed ges 'm m at each side of the hoe, a little in advance thereof, which edges may either be formed on the ends of the hoe-bracket F1, as shown in Fig. ll, or might be formed in one piece with the hoe.

Fig. 12 shows a side view of a modilication of the machine. Fig. 13 shows the wheels carried on fixed bearings. Fig. 14 shows the hoe placed in front of the guides. Fig. 15 shows a side View of another arrangement. Figs. 16 and 17 show the hoe-blades placed obliquely.

In this machine there are five guide-frames, I, II, III, IV, and V, each carrying a hoeblade F. Of these ve frames, two, (marked, respectively, II and IV,) to which the stilts and draw-chains are attached, are secured to two transverse bars, B B. The other three guides, I, III, and V, are not xedly secured to the transverse bars B B, but are held in their proper places laterally by guides II, projecting downward from the bars B, between whichy guides they are free to move vertically upward or downward to the extent of several inches between the cross-bars B, which limit their movement upward, and lianges orlips at the lower ends of the guide-pieces I, as shown at Fig. 7, which prevent these frames from dropping down from the machine. Toward the iront the loose frames I, III, and V are connected to the front bar B by elastic springs, whereby they are drawn forward along with the rest of the machine without interference with their vertical play. By this arrangement sufficient independent vertical play is aii'orded to each ot' these hoe-frames to permit it to accommodate itself to the height of those parts of the ridges over which it passes, while at the same time the relative positions of the several hoes longitudinally and laterally are maintained.

An obvious modification of this arrangement is to place the transverse bars B below instead of above the guide-frames I to V, in which case the guides I for the' loose frames would be made to project upward from the transverse bars; also, chains or links might be substituted for the springs K. The hoes F are secured to the bars A3 ofthe guide-frames by brackets F, secured to blocks F2 on the bars A3. By inserting blocks or plates of various thicknesses above or below the bars A3 the hoes can be adjusted in height.

In order to facilitate the removal of the plants by the hoes, we in some cases pr0- vide enttin g disks or colters on each side ot the hoe, entering` the soil a little in advance of the hoe, which make vertical incisions in the soil at the tops of the drills, thereby separatin the portions to be removed by the hoe from those to be left standing, and so rendering the cut more clean.

In cases where the drills are very narrow, or but little raised above the furrow, so that there may be diflculty in discharging' the soil and plants from straight hoe-blades, we place them obliquely, as shown in elevation and plan at Figs. 16 and 17, there being in this case two hoe-blades to each frame-one, F, inclined in one direction, and a hinder blade, F1, inclined in the opposite direction. When the hoe F enters the row ot' plants R, as shown in the diagram plan, Fig. 1S, it removes those in front of' it, and pushes them toward the left, whereupon the hoe Fl removes those in its front toward the right. The hoe F is :made shorter than the width necessary to clear the whole space that has to be cleared, so that it deposits the soil and the plants removed by it in the track of the hoe F1 without interfering with the plants to` be left standing. The entering edge of each such inclined hoe is, by

preference, curved forward and sharpened, so

as to act as a colter..

The guide-s A1 A2, instead of being made of wood, as described in Eustaces specification above referred to, are made ot' iron or steel bars bent to the desired shape. cured to the bars A3 by bolts passing through holes longitudinally slotted, so that their position in relation to 011e another, and to the intermediate hoe, can be adjusted to suit the spacing of the drills on which the machine is employed. Further, the bars constituting the guides are hinge-jointed at et, the curved portion a.' being provided with a long slot for the bolt, by which it is secured to the bar A3, so that it can be turned more or less toward the position indicated by the dotted lines, Fig. 5, and thus the length of each guide can be varied.

Another method of varying the length of the guides is shown in Fig. 1, where each of the guides A1 A2 is made of two pieces of bar, secured together at a by a bolt having a countersunk head in the lower bar, and passing through a slotted hole in either or both bars.

The construction and arrangement of the guides A1 A2 are susceptible of several obvious modifications, which we will now explain.

Referring to Fig. 13 it will be seen that for the curved hinder portion of the front guide are substitut-ed wheels N N, mounted in bearings attached to the longitudinal bar of the machine, which bearings might be made adjustable in height and position.

Fig. 12 shows two wheels, N N, substituted for the front guide, each wheel being mounted on a radius-rod, O, pivoted to the bar A3, so that the wheel can follow the undulations of the ground. A stop, P, is provided on They arese the bar A3, so that when the radius-rod O bears against this stop, the frame is for the time supported on the wheel. Thus it will be seen that the hind wheel serves in lieu of the hinder portion of the guide, and the front wheel in lieu ot' the front inclined portion thereof, the frame being raised when either wheel is on the ridge, although the other wheel may be down in the furrow.

By jointing the bearings in the manner da scribed, or in any equivalent manner, the wheels always run 0n the ground, their weight never being thrown on the machine.

To prevent the wheels from interfering with one another they are mounted over on each side of the bar A2, or they are attached to alternate frames; or the front or back wheel may be in duplicate, arranged outside the bar A3, while the other wheel works between the cheeks of the bar. The pivots of the radiusrods O and the stops P are made adjustable, as shown, so as to suit dierent widths and depths offurroWs.

The wave-like motion of the machine may be obtained by making only one of the guides (either the front or the bach one) with a curved or inclined bearing-surface, the other guide being made straight, so as always to slide over the tops of the ridges. if, in such a case, the hoe were placed between the guides, the depth ot' the curved guide would have to be increased to compensate for the loss of vertical motionot the hoeresulting from the straight` ening of the other guide. By placing the hoe F in front of the two. guides, as shown in Fig. 14, where the straight guide A2 is placed behind the curved guide A1, the depth of the curvature of the latter may be diminished.

When the hoes are provided with cutting disks or colters, or are made inclined in duplicate, as described above, the wave-like motion of the machine is sometimes unnecessary, and in that case the guides may both be straight, as shown in Fig. l5.

The machine described with reference to Figs. 5, 6, and 7 may be lightened and simplilied by adopting the construction shown in side view, end View, and plan at Figs. l, 2, and 3, respectively.

In this construction, instead of employing a separate guide-frame for each hoe, we employ only two guide-frames, A1 A2, secured to one transverse bar, B, to which the hoes F are attached.

In order to adjust the hoes to any desired interval they are made to slide on the bar B, and to be secured in the required position by set-screws; also, the transverse bar B, bein g held to the guide-bars A1 A2 by staple-bolts, as shown in Fig. 6a, can be blocked upward or downward, to adjust the height of the hoe which it carries.

It may be readily understood that the sev eral modifications of the hoes and guides described above, in reference to the machine shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, may also be adopted in the modification, as shown in Figs. 1,2, and 3.

Fig. 19 shows, in perspective, our improved arrangement of the draw-chains for the machines described above, for the purpose of lightening the downward pressure of the front,

4 and thus affording to the driver greater facilityol gnidingthe machine. The draw-chain D is fastened by its ends to near the middle of the guide-frames A3, and another chain, D1, is fastened near the front ot those frames. Both c'hains are passed through a ring or over a pulley, S, to which is linked the horse tracebar T. rllhe draft is taken by the chain D, and the downward pressure of the front of the machine can be more or less relieved by adjusting the length of the chain D. As the ring or pulley S is free to move upon both chains; any alterations in the position of the horse as he advances do not materially affect the drivers power of guiding the machine by the stilts.

It is advantageous to attach to the machine a marker, such as is sometimes used in plow'- ing to indicate the succeeding furrow, so that when the machine is drawn across a eld it makes a mark which serves as a guide for the n ext traverse. Such a marker is indicated at Q in Fig. 3; but we do not claim such marker as part of our invention; also, these machines may be mounted on light wheels, on which they can be moved to and from their work, the bearings of the wheels being on levers or sliding bars, so that when the machine is at work, the wheels can be raised to let the machine rest on its guides. We make no claim to such wheels.

Having thus described the nature of our invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we would have it understood that we make no claim generally to a machine for thinning or spacing root and other crops, in which machine a series of hoe-blades are arranged to operate in combination with guides imparting to the machine 'an undulatory motion, as described in Enstaces specilication above referred to; butv We claim the following improvements in the construction and arrangement of the parts of such'machines:

l. The combination of two guide-frames, II and IV, fixed to transverse bars B B, with other frames, I, III, and V, connected to the transverse bars by guides I and springs, chains, or links K, so as to be capable of independent vertical motion, substantially as herein described in reference to Figs. 5, 6, and 7 of the drawings.

2. The guides A1 A2, formed of metal bars, and secured so that they can be adjusted in length and position to suit drills of different widths, substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1 and 5 of the drawings.

3. rIhe combination of a straight guide, A2, with a curved guide, A1, and hoe-blade F, placed either behind or in front of A1, substantially as described with reference to Fig. 14 of the drawings.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses this 4th day of November, 1873.

lTHOMAS KENNAN. MARCUS E USTACE. JAMES KENNAN. Witnesses:

p Faks. Low,

Dubln, N. P. WILLIAM FRY, Jr.,

13 LowerI Mount Street, Dubln. 

